Parliament

KABUL (Pajhwok): Some Wolesi Jirga or lower house members on Saturday said if the Population Registration Act had any problems, the government should come up with amendments, but should not allow anybody to disunite the Afghans.
The Population Registration Bill was approved last year by parliament and ratified by the president, but some lawmakers, civil society organisations and political parties have been calling for the word “Afghan” to be included in the biometric identity cards.

KABUL (Pajhwok): Sacked staff members of the Afghanistan Investment Support Agency (AISA) on Saturday set alight their educational documents during a protest demonstration in Kabul, alleging they had been removed illegally.
Numbered around 50, the protesters were chanting “death to Mohammad Qurban Haqjo” the AISA’s head. They said lately more than 133 AISA staff had been fired illegally.
Abdul Satar Alokozai, who earlier worked at AISA office in Herat province, said Haqjo, the new AISA head, had sacked them illegally and on the pretext of a declining AISA budget.

KABUL (Pajhwok): Wolesi Jirga Speaker Abdul Rauf Ibrahimi on Wednesday said ambiguous politics led nations to destruction and widened the gap between them and their governments.
Speaking at a ceremony commemorating the 14th death anniversary of Ahmad Shah Massoud in Kabul, Ibrahimi said joblessness, poverty and migration were a result of ambiguous politics, unstable economy, corruption, nepotism, monopoly, slow governance and the delay in holding parliamentary and district council elections.

KABUL (Pajhwok): Mentioning or not mentioning word “Afghan” in the new electronic ID cards should not divide the Afghans, senators said on Tuesday.
After the parliament approved the Census Law last year, some lawmakers, civil society activists and political parties protested against the omission “Afghan and “Islam” in the new ID cards.
But some people agreed with the parliamentary decision that the words “Islamic Republic of Afghanistan” on the top of the cards were enough to prove the holder’s nationality and religion.

KABUL (Pajhwok): Some Mesharano Jirga or upper house of parliament members on Tuesday denounced a NATO airstrike that allegedly killed 17 Afghan counternarcotics police in southern Helmand province, calling for the Bilateral Security Agreement (BSA) to be scrapped.
The NATO raid took place on Sunday night in Reg area, according to the provincial police chief, Major Gen. Nabi Jan Mullahkhel.

KABUL (Pajhwok): Convening after the summer recess, the Wolesi Jirga on Monday asked the government to take effective measures for the elimination of the Islamic State (IS) from eastern provinces.
Deputy speaker Haji Zahir Qadir, speaking during the first session of the final year of the 16th term of the lower house, expressed grave concern at the Daesh presence in Nangarhar, Kunar, Nuristan and Laghman.

KABUL (Pajhwok): Accusing the governor of southern Ghazni province of having hands with Taliban, civil society organizations alleged that he had a meeting with Daesh leaders twice in the United Arabic Emirates (UAE).
But Governor Musa Akbarzada rejected the allegations as groundless.
Some civil society activists and Ghazni lawmakers in parliament expressed concerns about spike in kidnappings and insecurity in the province.
They alleged that routes leading to Jaghori, Malestan, Nawar, Jaghato and Qara Bagh districts had turned deadly.

QALAT (Pajhwok): Wolesi Jirga or lower house of parliament member Hamidullah Tokhi escaped unhurt in Taliban’s attack in southern Zabul province on Tuesday, but one of his guards was killed and two others wounded, an official said.
Governor Spokesman Gul Islam Syal told Pajhwok Afghan News the attack was carried out in the limits of Shah-i-Safa district on Zabul-Kandahar road.
The lawmaker’s son Abdul Wasi confirmed his father survived Taliban’s ambush, but one of his bodyguards had been killed and two others wounded in gunfire.

PUL-I-ALAM (Pajhwok): New buildings for teaching and administration purposes are being constructed on the university campus in central Logar province.
Governor Mohammad Halim Fidai and deputy higher education minister Gul Hassan Walizai on Monday inaugurated construction works on the 37 million afghani project.
Fidai said the structures would cost 37 million afghanis which had been provided by the Ministry of Counternarcotics under the Alternative Livelihood Programme.

MAIMANA (Pajhwok): The first vice-president Gen. Abdul Rashid Dostum on Monday after wearing military uniform had been fighting rebels in northwestern Faryab province and leading the first military operation against insurgents.
Last week, Dostum during his trip to Faryab had said that he did not go there to create militia groups but he was guiding Afghan forces and local people against insurgents.